00                       SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 21                                                                    
01 Urging the United States Congress to extend the authorization date for supplemental                                     
02 block grants to the State of Alaska under the Federal Temporary Assistance to Needy                                     
03 Families Program.                                                                                                       
04 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
05       WHEREAS the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) block grant                                           
06 program established in the 1996 federal welfare reform legislation, the Personal                                        
07 Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA), included                                       
08 modest supplemental grants for 17 relatively poor or rapidly growing states; and                                        
09       WHEREAS the State of Alaska was awarded a supplemental grant because the state's                                
10 population increased by more than 10 percent between April 1, 1990, and July 1, 1994; and                               
11       WHEREAS the supplemental grants included in PRWORA were authorized only                                         
12 through federal fiscal year 2001, while the remainder of the law was authorized through                                 
13 federal fiscal year 2002; and                                                                                           
14       WHEREAS, because the supplemental grants will expire, Alaska will face a reduction                              
15 in its TANF funding in the amount of $6,900,000, or 13 percent of its block grant, starting at                          
01 the beginning of federal fiscal year 2002 on October 1, 2001; and                                                       
02       WHEREAS the elimination of the supplemental TANF grant could force Alaska to                                    
03 scale back its welfare reform efforts, which have been very successful in moving people off                             
04 welfare, into work, and out of poverty; and                                                                             
05       WHEREAS the TANF block grant provides a broad range of services to Alaskans                                     
06 through the Alaska temporary assistance program, including cash benefits, child care, case                              
07 management, job development, job training and placement, program administration,                                        
08 transportation, and other supportive services; and                                                                      
09       WHEREAS the TANF block grant provides other essential services to needy                                         
10 Alaskans not receiving welfare, including child care, child protection, the Head Start program,                         
11 victims of domestic violence, the Healthy Family program, pregnancy prevention, and teen                                
12 parent services; and                                                                                                    
13       WHEREAS the elimination of the supplemental TANF grant will also result in the                                  
14 loss of federal funding to some or all of these programs and services;                                                  
15       BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature calls upon the United States                                   
16 Congress to continue the TANF supplemental block grants through federal fiscal year 2002,                               
17 the end of the full TANF authorization period.                                                                          
18       COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Ted Stevens and the                                    
19 Honorable Frank Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S.                                             
20 Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress; and to all the other members                              
21 of the 107th United States Congress.